The Locust Hive: Viva Las Pegasus
by PetroBeherha
Summary: After a tiresome journey across the desert, Queen Erranda and her starving Locust Hive changelings arrive at the city of Las Pegasus and plan to raid it for its food. But little do they know that they are not the only changelings there. Note: This work of fiction is rated Teen for some violent scenes and occasional swearing. Queen Miasma and Miasma hive claimed by Carnifex.
1. Prologue

**T** he San Palomino Desert; a land of extremes. There the days parched the earth, the nights were as cold as winter, and water was as rare and precious as gold. A blazing sun struck the cracked brown dirt with hot intense sunlight, and the only plant life found were a few shrubs and patches of prickly cacti. Mirages covered the horizon like a vast, illusory sea to fool parched, desperate travelers.

A large flock of crows flew across the sky as if in pursuit for some promised land. The unlikely flock was so huge that it looked like some dark cloud that could have blotted out the sun - easily over a hundred strong. Their beaks hanged open to pant in a vain attempt to keep themselves cool.

For several hours, they drove themselves across the desert until something finally rose in the horizon. It was a collection of tall, rectangular structures lined with many colorful lights, which danced and flashed to show its aliveness. Finally a signature signpost stood in the front of the city in bold red print, but it was too far away to make it out right now.

The flock immediately settled on the cracked dirt, and then suddenly bright orange flashes consumed the crows one by one, revealing them to be none other than the Locust Hive changelings.

The Locusts were a tiny, nomadic hive of changelings whose numbers rarely passed two hundred, compared to several thousand or even tens of thousands of other ones. As its name would suggest, once every few weeks the Locust Hive flew across the land to find suitable environments to settle, feed on, and then move on once satisfied. Unlike most changeling hives, the Locusts have material food as a substitute for love, although the latter can still be devoured when necessary. They were distinguishable by their characteristic orange color scheme, oval-shaped wings (usually, this can change when trying to adapt to certain environments), and pair of antennae. Being nomads, they can quickly adapt to any new climate they enter, usually within about three to five days. But of course, nopony said it was comfortable.

Their queen, Erranda, stood in front of her swarm, and contemplated as she stared at the distant city. Apart from her drones, her orange coloring was accompanied by more red-orange gradients. Her unkempt mane began as a widow's peak that arched up at either side of her forehead, and then reached down to her shoulders, while a few thin strands hung in front of her face. Her horn was straight, but the tip was formed so it resembled an axe-like protrusion, so any goring from her would've been fatal.

She and her hive traveled in this wretched environment for more than two days, and they had not had a feeding for weeks. The last place they visited was a large forest inhabited by timberwolves, chupacabras, vampiric jackalopes, and carnivorous plants. Being too dangerous to stay any longer, they escaped to a desert, and they traveled. But obviously it wasn't any better, for, although there were not so many dangerous creatures, there was hardly any water to drink, and the only food sources were either critters that were too few, too small, and too hard to catch, or plants that were too prickly to be eaten. Although they slowly adapted their bodies to conserve more water and lose body heat more quickly, it would take another two or three days for it to be complete. They can also survive for three weeks without food before they starve, but their last feeding was two weeks ago.

The Locusts were hungry, thirsty, weary, and lost, and the queen wasn't any better either. They would not have survived a few more days without resorting to cannibalism.

But now they found hope in this new environment that is civilization. Queen Erranda herself had never seen a real pony city before, but in her youth she heard tales about them from her mother, which have been passed down from generation to generation to record the hive's past experiences. With this golden opportunity to not only perform their next feeding, but also to explore a new environment and see what it has to offer, Queen Erranda decided to seize it.

She finally spoke. "It seems that luck is on our side today, everypony," she slowly turned around to the drones behind her. "For before us is what could only be our salvation from this desert, a city of the ponies filled with much food for us to devour. We shall start our new raid very soon."

The changelings cheered and buzzed excitedly, but their voices were hoarse from their thirst.

Queen Erranda dropped her smile. "Unfortunately we are too weak to perform one, and we do not know what benefits or threats exist within its walls. We will need to examine this area first, so we will need our most able-bodied scouts to do so."

"But shouldn't we eat first?" A drone raised his holed hoof, "we've been living off of shrubs the whole time."

"Yeah," another agreed.

"I was getting to that part," she told him. "Considering our wretched condition, we will need to search for sources of water and food first. Once we are satisfied, we will move on to discovering their society and military defense. Now," she scanned the crowd. "Who is still strong enough to go scouting?"

The queen scanned the crowd over the health of her changelings, and immediately saw two promising candidates.

"Scratt, Chitin," she called.

"Yeah?" The former, a drone, looked hopefully up to her while the latter, a more developed changeling, knelt down and asked quietly. "Yes, mother?"

"I'll need the two of you to fly toward that city and search for any source of food or drink nearby," she briefed. "But you must disguise yourselves while there, we don't want to get caught. And come back quickly, the longer you linger, the hungrier we get, the closer we get to eating each others' flesh. Understood?"

"Uh huh!" Scratt nodded eagerly.

"Yes, mother." Chitin answered.

"Good," Erranda returned her gaze to the city, whose outskirts should be only about five miles away. "Now get moving, you two. We'll be waiting for you."

The two changelings nodded, and they pumped their wings and hovered above the ground. They flew forward and made their way towards the city.

* * *

Scratt was a typical, low-ranking drone at age two (drones have an average lifespan of six) who was not known for being bright, being a sort of "clown" of the group. But in spite of - or perhaps because of - his low rank, he had a strong desire to contribute to the swarm and earn the respect of his peers. He chose to do this by volunteering in scouting missions whenever the hive encounters a new area, but he sometimes puts himself or his scouting party in danger as a result of him either being distracted by something or by missing important details.

On the other hoof, Chitin resembled a much more developed form of changeling, complete with a droopy orange mane and eyes with distinct irises and pupils. As a matter of fact, he was what was known as a "prince" of changelings, which was a result of a rare occurrence of a changeling queen laying a "queen" egg containing a male embryo. These "male eggs" were usually thrown out to make way for a female. But Queen Erranda decided to keep his egg and raise him. He eventually became an expert leader of any scouting party he was assigned to because of his charisma and attention to detail.

As the two changelings reached closer to the city, they were able to read the sign as saying "Welcome to Fabulous Las Pegasus - Neighvada". But then Scratt noticed something peculiar behind the buildings.

"Hey Chi!" he called over. He squinted his eyes as he raised a hoof over his eyes to shield himself against the blinding sunlight.

"What is it, Scratt?" Chitin inquired to his wingpony.

"Is that still the mirage or does it really look like...?"

"Let me check, we need to make sure it's not another mirage." Chitin checked over at the would-be mirage past the city. He noted during the trip that mirages always receded when one travels toward them, unlike true bodies of water. This one, though, seemed a little different.

"Let's check it out," Chitin concluded. "If it's moving away from us, then it's a mirage, and we're heading to the city."

"Roger that!" Scratt replied.

They went around the city borders within about a mile away to avoid drawing the ponies' attention. By the time they got there, they found out that...

Lo and behold, it was not a mirage after all. Las Pegasus was situated next to a vast deep blue ocean. It was met by a beach that was completely empty of pony activity, although some garbage cluttered about it. The changelings could feel the cool moist air revitalize their tired bodies, like a gift from Elysium for travelers lost in the desert.

Scratt's jaw hung to the ground and eyes widened in disbelief at what he and Chitin were seeing. "Well," Chitin grinned smugly. "At least know where the water is," he turned back to his companion. "Now we need to find a food source."

But he only saw the drone entranced at the ocean in front of him, with the jaw hanged open and eyes widened into the size of dinner plates.

"Uhh... Scratt?" Chitin moved closer to him, "are you listening?"

"Oh... My... _Gosh!_ " At the last word, Chitin flinched as Scratt splayed his forelegs open, and gave the widest and most ecstatic grin he could muster. "Look at all this water, _we're saved!_ Let's go!"

Scratt charged forward with lightning speed toward the ocean as he celebrated in reverence, and then dived headfirst into the foaming waves.

Chitin reached out a hoof to stop him. "Scratt, wait! That's-"

But then Scratt came back viciously spitting and scraping his tongue to get the bad taste out of his mouth.

"...seawater."

"Yeah," Scratt still spat in disgust. "Tell me about it."

"Like I said," Chitin continued. "We need to find a more suitable source. Ocean water isn't gonna do us any good."

Scratt paused for a moment before he glanced at something, and then pointed with his hoof. "How about there?"

He looked to where Scratt pointed to, and they saw in the distance a dense population little figures that could've been ponies. Some of them lay underneath colorful umbrellas and benches, while others - especially the children - hung out and played at the water's edge, and a few even set up nets and grounds for volleyball games.

What separated the ponies from the two scouts was a spacious metal drainage pipe of about seven or eight feet wide, and had a constant stream of water emptying into the beach, which made a miniature delta that divided it. What was interesting was that none of the ponies up ahead wanted to hang out near there. Chitin traced the pipe to the city, and he speculated that it could be a passage underneath it, making it a good potential place where the hive can scout the city from and plot out the feeding raid.

"Hmm," Chitin contemplated. "I don't know if there's any we can eat or drink in there, but let's investigate. Maybe we'll find something useful about this place."

"Well I figured that there might be something over there, ya know?"

When they flew into the sewer, they saw that it was very dark with the only source of light being little holes from the storm drains, which lined across a long, tubular hallway. The water ran along a canal with raised cement sidewalks on either side, stairways that lead to lower levels, and finally ladders that head up to the streets above. This place clearly looked like something that could be maintained by pony workers, so it was better to enter in a disguise.

Chitin looked over the small stream of water to determine if it was drinkable, and saw that it was definitely clearer than the seawater. It didn't look like enough to feed the whole hive, but if it was flowing from a source, perhaps this could work. And even if there was no food inside the sewer itself, it still could be used to hide and plan if they kept their disguises, perhaps even heading to the lower levels to further avoid detection.

Scatt apologized, "I'm sorry if there's not a whole lot in here, Chitin."

"I know," Chitin reassured. "But we can use this place as our base of operations from which we can scout the city. And with the ocean outside, we could always turn into seagulls and go fishing."

"Yeah," Scratt agreed. "We could do that."

Not wanting to be gone for too long, Chitin and Scratt came back out of the sewer and into the littered beach, and found a few fronds of seaweed tangled among the garbage.

"Now c'mon," Chitin picked up a strand of seaweed from the ground. "We must report back to the queen, we'll take the seaweed as proof about the ocean. I feel that our salvation is just ahead of us."

"Got it," Scratt held his own strand of seaweed in his mouth.

And with that, the two changelings turned to their backs and flew back in the direction of the main hive, but they were not aware of a small, shadowy figure with solid purple eyes watching them from inside the sewer pipe.


	2. Chapter 1: Not Alone

**W** hen Chitin and Scratt returned to Queen Erranda, they informed her of their findings, including the ocean (with the seaweed as proof), and the metal sewer they wanted to use for a hideout. When she asked about the food source, Chitin reasoned that they could fish and hopefully fill everypony's stomachs for a while. Erranda decided to head to the beach the two scouts went to, and the hive disguised itself as a flock of seagulls before flying over so that the ponies in the city won't be alarmed.

When they arrived at the beach, they were thankful that the desert was not endless. They skimmed the waters for fishing spots to catch at least a few fish, though some decided to hunt for something edible among the garbage, or hunt for crabs. It may not be enough to fill the bellies of every single drone, but hopefully it should still be enough to get through the day.

After everypony had their fill, they flocked across the littered beach and approached the sewer pipe Chitin and Scratt found.

 _So_ , Erranda began, speaking telepathically from the seagull form. _Is this the hideout you're proposing?_

 _Yes, my queen._ Chitin nodded, _Though it may be maintained by the ponies, so we will need to find a spot in the lower areas so they do not find us._

 _Then how are we gonna get in without those ponies finding us?_ Erranda questioned. _Surely, they'll be concerned about a whole flock of birds heading into the sewer. They would suspect us._

Scratt raised a wing, _couldn't we turn into rats when we get inside?_

 _While the ponies get scared when they encounter a whole pack of mice and have them exterminate us?_

 _Oh,_ he shrunk down embarrassingly. _Right._

 _Hmm..._ Queen Erranda thought of a solution to the problem, and she soon found one solution. _Why don't we send scouts inside the sewer to check for any ponies. If it is clear, we can all jump in and set up an outpost here. Is that clear?_

The changelings were abuzz in agreement, and then they wondered who would take the leap. Queen Erranda flew up onto the "floor" of the pipe, and thoroughly scanned the crowd.

 _How about you three?_ She faced a couple of drones bunched up among the crowd, _Apis, Cilia, and Gaster._

When the crowd hushed down, they cleared some space for the three scouts, who bunched close together and raised their heads to show themselves.

 _Yes, our queen?_ One of them, Cilia, had a female personality.

Erranda hovered back down to the ground. _I need the three of you to fly in there, disguise yourselves as rodents and search for any ponies or other races in there. If there are none inside, great. If there are ponies inside, then we will have to remain in the beach. Is that clear?_

The three changelings saluted, _Yes, ma'am!_

 _Very good,_ the queen backed away. _Move out!_

At the queen's command, the three scouts flew up and into the sewer lid, and in orange flashes they shapeshifted into rats, who scurried down deep into the sewer. After about fifteen long minutes, the scouts finally scuttled back from the sewer pipe. The hive looked up to them expectantly, waiting for an answer.

The lead scout, Apis, got up on his hind legs and raised a thumb up. "All clear!"

She faced the sewer pipe again. _Alright, let's get inside._

And with that the entire hive went into the sewer pipe in a long line, with Queen Erranda among the lead. After everypony was far enough inside they turned back into their true forms in orange flashes. When they heard the sound of their hooves pounding the ground, they attempted to walk more softly, which quieted the noise down somewhat. Hopefully, it wasn't enough to disturb the inhabitants at the surface. It helped with the noise of the rolling wheels of the chariots and a distant sound of music in the background.

The trail of over a hundred changelings total snaked its way down any stairs they found, and even the surface noise began to die out, leaving behind almost a dead silence. It also grew even darker as there was less light seeping from the surface, and eventually Queen Erranda had to use a glowing horn spell to light the way.

By the time they went into the fourth or fifth floors, a putrid smell appeared. It was similar to the stink from the litter back at the beach, but it was mixed with the smell of decaying flesh, making it much stronger.

"Whew!" one drone waved his hoof in front of his face. "Smells like carcass in here."

"Well, if there are dead animals around here," another changeling complained nervously, "then I don't think this is a safe place."

"Shh! Keep it down, Buzz! We don't want anypony hearing us, do we?"

"But I thought there were no ponies here, Archie," Buzz whispered back. "Apis and the others said so."

"How can we trust that he's talking about the whole place at all times?" Archie argued, "just because he said so doesn't make him right. Who knows, some ponies or even some other weird creature might've came in by now."

Unbeknownst to them, something did come in the sewers. A pony-sized creature climbed along the dark ceiling, and squinted its solid purple eyes as it monitored the changelings' movements.

The Locust Hive continued along the stinking passage, all the while growing more concerned if this is really a good place to set up camp. What if they could not go back? What if something lurked down there that devours anything that invades its lair?

Suddenly, Scratt's rear hoof got stuck on something.

"Huh?"

He looked to see that he stepped on some pink, sticky, and rather smelly goo.

"Aww, great." Scratt tried to pull himself out of the ball of goo, but he was still stuck.

"Uhh, guys?" He called out, "A little help here?"

Archie and some of his fellow drones rolled their eyes when they saw him, so they quickly came to his aid. And so about three drones grabbed him by the leg and then pulled his body in unison. After a few seconds, they were sent backwards from the force, and he was set free.

Scratt sighed in relief, "thanks."

"Don't mention it," Archie said. "Now can you try not to do this again, Scratt?"

"Ha ha ha," Scratt mocked sarcastically. "Very funny, Archie."

"Just saying. Now," Archie added, "let's hurry back to the others before we l-"

 _HISS!_

Something leaped down from the ceiling and tacked down Archie. "Ahh! Help! It's attacking my face!"

That thing turned out to be another changeling, but its colors were purple rather than orange, its wings were shaped differently, and it had no antennae.

"Hang on, buddy!" The others rushed to his rescue, "we've got this!"

Archie and the other changeling fought, punched, kicked, and bit each other as they tried to pull it off of him. Meanwhile, Queen Erranda and the rest of the hive turned toward the fighting and they rushed to their rescue.

Thankfully, the rival changeling was already out cold by the time they came. But a groaning Archie already suffered some wounds, including a bleeding bite mark on one side of his neck.

"What's going on?" Queen Erranda demanded, "what happened?"

"Another changeling attacked him, ma'am." Buzz reported to her, "Archie beat him, but he's been injured."

"Damn..." The queen fell silent as she looked at the unconscious rival, which could only mean one thing. A different hive of changelings already owns this place.

 _But underneath the city?_ She thought, _is this why none of the ponies come here? I should have suspected this._

"I am afraid another hive has already settled themselves here", she announced to her drones. "So we will have to move out of this sewer and examine the city from the shore."

But it wasn't long before more rival drones crawled from both sides of the passage.

"Uhh... guys?" Scratt warned fearfully, "we've got company."

The rest of the Locust Hive found themselves surrounded by more strange drones, probably all soldiers, climbing along the walls and poised for combat. The Locusts did the same.

"But first," Erranda added. "We will have to fight our way out!"

The fighting produced a cacophony of shouts and commotion. Scratt and several others used some amateur martial arts moves, while Queen Erranda and Chitin launched magic bolts and some basic elemental spells, though the latter mostly resorted to hoof-to-hoof combat.

Scratt attempted some novice punches and kicks at an enemy changeling, but when he missed each time, the enemy changeling laughed at him. But he was interrupted by a hard kick to the face from Chitin that sent him flying against the wall.

"Wow, thanks." Scratt said.

"Don't thank me yet," Chitin responded without turning, "we have to keep fighting." He went on to fire beams on three more foes.

Queen Erranda attacked surrounding enemy drones with some magic spells. Sometimes she froze them into ice blocks with a freezing spell, or electrocuted them by sticking her horn onto one of them and then using a lightning spell. Meanwhile almost a dozen of her own drones protected her from the enemy's attacks.

Two Locust drones pinned down one rival by each arm as Archie threw various attacks at him like a punching bag, and then ended with a strong uppercut from the chin that sent him against the ceiling. The three changelings gave a high five.

The fight went on as both hives fought each other through punching, kicking, biting, headbutting, throwing, spells, and so on. But the Locusts hardly moved a few inches outward, and more rival changelings poured in.

" _Who would dare to invade my resort without my permission?!_ " A bitter, accented female voice roared against the chaos and stopped everypony in their tracks. The changelings from the other hive froze in fear, and in a flash they formed up a sort of royal guard formation where they stood on either side of the passage.

The Locusts turned around to see a large, shadowy figure of about Queen Erranda's size, fronted by two changelings holding incense burners in their mouths. The figure's eyes were visible from the darkness as bright pink ovals distorted by fury. When she stepped into the dim light, she was revealed to be what might've been the queen of the sewer changelings. The first thing the Locusts noticed were the torn cheeks that revealed her rearmost molars, giving the appearance of a perpetual and fleshy, yet skeletal grin. Strips of intact flesh defined the border between the cheek holes and her true mouth. Her purple mane and tail were wavy with two prominent holes on each bang, but otherwise well-combed. And finally her thin horn had no holes, but they bent forward at the base and curved upward in a sickle shape.

The other queen glared at Queen Erranda. "Who are you, and what are you doing here in my lair? Well?! Spit it out!"

Queen Erranda bared her teeth disapprovingly at her demeanor, but she calmed herself and straightened.

"Forgive us for our intrusion," she tried reasoning politely. "We had not known that you and your hive were here. I am Erranda, Queen of the Locust Hive. We are nomads who travel the lands to suit our needs."

"Nomads?" The other queen's frown disappeared into that of intrigue. After a brief pause, she gestured to herself in a dramatic pose. "Well, I am the most lovely and sophisticated Queen Miasma. I came all the way from Manehattan for a luxurious getaway here in Las Pegasus. And my wonderful subjects here are the Misma Hive, and they keep me in company and the hive running smoothly." Queen Miasma regained her mean look, and demanded, "and why don't you wandering savages intrude the ponies up in the city? There is no shortage of love there, or at least desire."

"No," Erranda corrected. "Not love, food and drink. We have traveled the desert for days living off the local shrubs, and have had no water to drink from. The water from the ocean did nothing to satisfy our thirst. We can still feed on love or a similar energy when necessary, but we still need to eat solid food to survive."

"Then why don't you just feed off the garbage dumps outside," Miasma asked skeptically. "Or perhaps the ponies loafing at the beach instead of breaking in so rudely into our lair?!"

When Miasma stomped sternly forward, Queen Erranda was struck by a strong smell. It wasn't quite the same rotten stink of the underlings, but more of a chemical smell that still nauseated her, because she was accustomed to more natural smells such as flowers, herbs, and even rotting carcasses.

Queen Miasma took a few loud whiffs and jerked back in disgust, "And your smell," she groaned. "I suppose you have no concept of hygiene, either!"

Queen Erranda held her nose with a hoof, and returned the insult. "And you smell strange yourself, Queen Miasma."

" **What was that?!** "

Miasma's sudden shout made Scratt yelp and jump so high he hit the ceiling and cracked the surface. When he fell back down, he felt dizzy with stars in his vision and rubbed the bump on his head. Some of Miasma's drones snickered at his misfortune.

"Ouch." He winced painfully.

"First you waltz into my property, then you cause chaos with my subjects, and now you so rudely insult my most graceful form?!" She gritted through her teeth, "one more move like that and you will be promptly... escorted out!"

Queen Erranda inched back at the warning, gritting her teeth a little.

"I know this place stinks like rot," she said as she pulled out an ornate, half empty glass vial of perfume. "But believe me, Queen Erranda, when I tell you I don't enjoy it either. That is why I have some lovely perfume here."

She showed Erranda the perfume bottle that contained a liquid which smelled somewhat like mint mixed with a strong alcohol-like chemical, and then sprayed the blue mist on her face.

 _So that's where the smell is coming from,_ Erranda thought.

Miasma set it back down. "It's a shame you do not enjoy it as much as I do, Erranda. Oh well," she shrugged. "I suppose you'll have to get used to it."

While Queen Miasma lectured, a weary, fatigued pony with heavy eyes of the same solid color as the Miasma changelings hobbled near Scratt.

The slave pony was called a "husk", a term for beings who were victims of a Changeling's pursuits, where they drained so much love from their victims that they turned into mindless servants for its mother hive. Husks were often used for physical labor, where they maintained the structure of and cleaning the changeling hive's burrow or habitat, as well as to help carry the queen's eggs.

The Locust Hive rarely used husks, as they were usually either too far from civilization or they traveled too frequently for them to keep up. Whenever they did have husks, they were used briefly before they were either sent back where they were found or provided its changelings with a quick meal.

Scratt watched the husk drag a filthy, damp cloth against his hoof while holding a pail of soapy water in his mouth. He set the pail down, dunked the cloth in the water, and feebly held it up to scrub the dirt and fungus off the wall.

The spooked Scratt turned to a Miasma changeling next to him, and then asked him plainly as he pointed at the husk. "Hey, are you gonna eat that?"

The Miasma changeling turned away and groaned in disgust.

"What?" Scratt grinned nervously as he shrugged, "just asking."

"Now," Miasma went on. "Considering how the lot of you are wanderers, how long do you plan on staying in our city?"

"As much time as needed to gather enough food and water for all of us," Erranda informed. "It may take days or even a few weeks before we move elsewhere."

"As long as it's nowhere near our lair, then I think we are both in good terms. So are you savages about to leave or do you want to loiter here for a little longer? I don't know how much more I can tolerate your presence."

Queen Erranda still felt offended by her insults, but she held it in to avoid unnecessary trouble - or even another fight. She answered. "We will leave, yes. But-"

"Then go," Queen Miasma interrupted. "Leave our sewers and do not return, and do move quickly before I change my mind."

Queen Erranda was going to ask for information or directions to some decent food sources in the city, or at least better ones than scarce fish, crabs, and loads and loads of rotten scraps. But the interruption forced her to reconsider, since Queen Miasma was clearly not the type to welcome visitors. Changelings are normally very territorial creatures, including her own swarm, but Queen Erranda had to acknowledge the Miasma Hive's personal space.

She took a deep breath and sighed, "very well."

She turned around and slowly trotted back the way they came. "Come on, everypony," she told her subjects. "We're heading back outside."

The rest of the hive followed her, but Scratt stood bewildered. "But wait a minute," he protested. "What about the-?"

"We're moving out, Scratt." Chitin informed him as he passed by, "this is no place for us."

Scratt groaned in complaint, and joined his peers with his head down.

By the time the Locusts were almost out of sight, Queen Miasma added, "and don't let the sewer lid hit you on your way out!"

* * *

The Locusts finally made it back up to the first level, but not quite at the exit. They huddled together far enough away from the storm drains where the ponies above were unable to hear them, or at least make out what they were saying.

Scratt went up to the queen and stammered, "w-where are we going, queenie? We're not eating back at the junk pile now, are we?"

"Yes we are," Queen Erranda replied sternly to him. "We have no other choice, Queen Miasma and her subjects already beat us to it and they made it clear that these sewers are their own. It's better than having them kill us in a territorial dispute, especially with our lack of strength."

"But what about the city?" Scratt pressured, "I thought we're making a base for our feeding raid!"

"I know that, Scratt." She told him, "but we'll have to make due with what we have. After all," he gave a sly grin. "We haven't forgotten about our mission here."

Scratt blinked. "You mean," he asked hopefully. "We're still gonna eat? ...At the city, I mean?"

"Yes. Why would we stand around and die in this desert? In fact," she shifted her red-orange eyes to the rest of the hive. "I am about to tell this to everypony else. Join in with the others when you can, Scratt."

"Sure thing, ma'am!" He nodded before slipping into the chattering crowd.

The Locust Queen moved to the scummy brick wall opposite of the downward stairs.

"All of you, listen." The queen announced; she waited for the crowd to settle down. "It is unfortunate to know that what was about to be our new burrow has been taken by a much larger hive, and so we will have to settle back to the beaches. But this matters not, for we still have the city nearby. Therefore, I shall assign three scouting parties to enter the city and gather as much information about it as we can so we may perform our raid soon. Once our raid is done, we shall leave this accursed desert and move to greener pastures. Gather yourselves!"

The changelings all stiffened themselves into a uniform, militant pose. Queen Erranda scanned the crowd once more as she decided on how many and which scouts to send into the possible dangers of the city. After a suspenseful minute, she called out each member of each party by name. "The first group will be composed of Chitin, Scratt, Apis, Cilia, and Gaster. The leader, of course, shall be Chitin."

"Yes, mother!" He affirmed upon address.

After the queen finished her role call, she finally commanded. "Alright, my subjects. Follow me!"

The Locust Hive followed Erranda to the front of the exit they came in from, which led back to the bright outdoors with the deep blue ocean contrasting against the sky. The three assigned scouting parties placed themselves in front of the exit, with Chitin's group in the middle. Erranda stood facing them from behind them. Behind _her_ the rest of the hive watched the scene in hope, or rather in pleading, that the scouting parties find some spots for food quickly so they can live another day.

Queen Erranda shouted, "ready!"

The scouts crouched down in preparation to head out the exit.

"Shift!"

Then they shapeshifted into seagulls while still crouching down and at ready.

At last, the queen raised her front right hoof.

"And... go!"

At the wave of her hoof, they ran out and flew out of the pipe. When they gained enough altitude, they veered the other direction to enter the heart of the Las Pegasus.

* * *

Back in the sewers, Queen Miasma bathed herself in a round room in a tub, which was filled with soapy sewer water with a variety of dead flowers and old bath toys. Normally she was averse to bathing in water, due to it reminding her of Queen Myxine, who led an aquatic hive of changelings. But after observing the activities of elite ponies back in Manehattan, she thought she could give bathing a try. To her surprise, she felt relaxed, which was a rare gem in a life full of frustration.

But this particular day was different, for even though she was in pleasent-smelling bath water, the thought of the intruders still lingered in her mind. There was something off about this Locust Hive. They can still feed off of love, but they said that just food will serve them. Don't changelings eat food to create the material for their cocoons, rather than to survive like other creatures? And why did they choose to barge into her sewer resort out of all the places in Las Pegasus? They could easily live off the ambient love from the ponies at the beach or anywhere else in the city, like how Queen Chrysalis did in her brief conquest of Canterlot during a royal wedding. Did those loathsome Locust Hive freaks really leave to bother somepony else? In fact, did they leave at all?

There was only one way to find out.

" _Butler!_ " She called out loudly.

A changeling wearing a ragged tuxedo zipped in front of her and stood upright. "Yes, your highness?"

"I have an assignment for you," Queen Miasma briefed. "Head over to the upper levels and check to see if our little visitors are completely gone from our property, search everywhere in case they are hiding or in disguises. Tout de suite!"

The butler nodded. "Yes, your highness!"

He flew out of the pool room and into the halls.

"And you two!" The queen snapped to a pair of drones nearby, who froze and faced her, shaking with fear. "Fetch me some more soap, lemon flavor! I want to be nice and glamorous for the gathering tonight, and don't keep me waiting!"

"Yes ma'am!" The two drones gave a quick salute and then dashed to a small room nearby.

She sighed heavily as she sank deeper into the water so her mouth almost touched the surface, and grumbled more quietly. "I can still smell their stench from here."

She magically grabbed the bottle and sprayed more perfume on herself.


End file.
